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Taiwan on Sunday conveyed ‘sincere gratitude’ to all countries that have voiced their grave concern regarding China’s recent belligerent military posturing across the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing last week staged unprecedented war games around the self-ruled democracy it claims as its own in a hailstorm of rage after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan’s capital.

Taiwan, in a release, said that the Republic of China (ROC) was founded in 1912, while the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was established in 1949. “In 1945, Taiwan was returned to the ROC after the World War II. The Chinese Communist regime has never exercised, for one single day, sovereignty over Taiwan administered by the ROC, which manifests Taiwan (ROC) and China (PRC) each under separate rules of democracy and autocracy. PRC’s sovereignty claim over Taiwan is therefore groundless and false.These are not only internationally recognized facts but also long-term status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” it said.

Taiwan said it was entitled to make friends and maintain relationships with countries around the world. “PRC’s continued actions to coerce and intimidate other countries into shunning Taiwan underlines the fact that the PRC itself does not recognize Taiwan as part of China, further deflating the fraud and empty lies of the so-called “One-China” principle,” it said. It added that China’s deliberate intensification of various forms of military posturing targeted at Taiwan recently had severely disrupted peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the region. “We earnestly call on the international community to jointly condemn China’s irrational military provocations and urge all countries to continue to speak up in support of democratic Taiwan with an aim to safeguard the values of freedom and democracy, to maintain the rules-based international order, and to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific,” it said.

“The government of ROC (Taiwan) wishes to convey sincere gratitude to the executive branches and parliamentarians of over 50 countries(including India) which have called on all sides to exercise restrain, de-escalate tensions, avoid unilateral actions to change status quo and maintain peace and stability in the region,” it said. It said that as a responsible stakeholder of the international community, Taiwan would calmly respond to China’s unreasonable military threats, firmly defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and national security, and protect the front line of democracy and freedom without resorting to the acts of escalation or provocation.

“In the face of evolving developments, the government of Taiwan will continue to enhance its self-defense capabilities while maintaining close communication and coordination with the US, Japan and all other like-minded nations including India to jointly preserve the rules-based international order and safeguard security across the Taiwan Strait and consolidate peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” it said.